Publishing The Dragon Times weekly, students learn the ins and outs of newspaper business

Something of a microcosm of Holyoke news coverage, The Dragon Times is reporting weekly to Holyoke schools on things important to them as students and community members.

While things like a special homecoming edition and spotlights on individual students and teachers are rather specific to the school, the Dragon Times digs into big-picture topics too. Student reporters aim to inform their peers on such subjects as bullying and the school measure on the Nov. 5 election. They even write about global current events and trends.

The fourth-period junior high journalism class is taught by Charlee Kleve, who encourages students to look past “fluffy” questions and learn something meaningful from the people they’re interviewing.

Every student in the class writes articles and takes the accompanying photos. Eighth grader Elly Brown is the newspaper’s main editor, and a different student acts as assistant editor each week.

The Dragon Times is published each Friday. A digital copy is sent to everyone in the district, and one hard copy is delivered to each classroom. It’s also shared on the district’s website and Facebook page.

After the paper is out each Friday, articles for the following week are assigned and interviews are scheduled. Throughout the week, students write out interview questions, conduct interviews, write rough drafts, edit articles and write their final drafts.

In addition to the weekly paper, the Dragon Times crew is working on some separate online-only stories and hopes to delve into the world of podcasts in collaboration with Kody Timm’s TV productions class in the future.

Read the new Dragon Times each Friday at www.hcosd.org/o/holyoke/browse/80443. Readers can also catch up on past issues, which are also posted there.